Edward Keenan: Clearing homeless tents is unconstitutional, says Ontario court. Is Toronto listening?
You may have encountered the famous words of Anatole France on how the government system of justice can be blind to basic social justice: “The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread.”Certainly, stealing food remains illegal even if you’re hungry, despiteon the number of people willing to argue they feel justified doing it.
Justice Valente’s answer is, essentially: you cannot. Doing so is a violation of their right to life, liberty, and security of the person. The situation he describes in Waterloo will sound familiar to Torontonians — here, the vast majority of people who call a shelter hotline looking for a bed on any given night are turned away.on how the emergency room at St. Michael’s Hospital is swamped with thousands of homeless people per year, hundreds seeking only shelter, not treatment — and that staff attempts to get those people emergency shelter beds fail 80 to 95 per cent of the time.
This week, the temperature is expected to be in the minus-20s overnight. There is literally no place for people to go. In those circumstances, how can you tell someone not to sleep in a tent? How can you rip their tent apart and send them on their way?
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